Funeral set after vigil for mum, boys killed in Gladstone house fire
Their lives cruelly cut short in one unthinkable tragedy, a mother, her son and his dear friend will be laid to rest just as they spent their last night - together. LATEST.
A combined funeral service has been announced for the victims of the horror Gladstone house fire, Jordana Johnson, her young son Jordan Norris, 13 and his dear friend Chazz Mather, 12.
Family and friends are invited to attend the service to “celebrate their life” at the Gladstone Entertainment Centre, Goondoon Street on November 15, 2025, at 9am.
The service will be followed by a committal at the Port Curtis Law Cemetery and messages of condolence may be sent to GladstoneValleyFunerals.com.au.
It follows a powerful vigil just one week ago at Barney Point beach where dancers performed, songs were sung and flowers and tributes laid for the trio killed in the tragedy on October 15.
Gladstone man Djuran Johnson was among an estimated 1500 mourners there to honour Jordana, Jordan and Chazz.
Speaking to this publication Mr Johnson explained Jordana – a second cousin who was “more like a first” and with whom he was “very close” had moved back home to Gladstone after her immediate family moved around a lot.
He said he and his siblings used to go over to Jordana’s grandparents, which was behind the Duck Ponds in Higgins St, with her family.
“Their grandparents would be really great at playing music and we kids would be sitting around until late at night and listening to people play music and trying to get a scone from someone,” he said.
“Their grandmother was really good at making food.
“It was a very popular place to go around and see them and mingle with your cousins.
“It’s just good childhood memories.”
Footy shirts and footballs could be seen among the crowd, reflecting the love the boys both had for the game.
Chazz, a great mate who was more like a brother, had been staying the night when the fire broke out.
“I think it’s not fair, especially on the two boys having an innocent sleep over … what you want to do as teenagers is have sleepovers, play video games, watch movies, laugh at each other until the middle of the night where someone mother or parent has to come in and tell your kids to be quiet because it's getting a bit too late, it’s bedtime and this has obviously happened and it’s terrifying,” Mr Johnson said.
“It’s very sad. It’s not fair for the community and them.”
In the lead up to the vigil, shattered families – referred to in a joint statement as “nutchum” and “whanau” honouring their two different cultures now united in grief – invited the community to help honour “three beautiful souls who were tragically taken from us … in Yallarm (the traditional name for Gladstone)”.
A smoking ceremony followed by a performance by Gooreng Gooreng dancers and then the Maori Haka opened the vigil before hugs were exchanged on the sand.
“It’s good to see the grieving process,” Mr Johnson said.
“There’s many sides to this story … all different nations, there’s the age groups, it’s a mother, it’s two young children, innocent children.
“But it’s a great morning and a very good process with the community joining in.”
He said the victims’ families had appreciated the coming together of community and emergency services personnel who attended.
‘Hope it’ll spread throughout the nation’: Elder’s unity plea
For 77-year-old Gooreng Gooreng Elder Neola Savage, whose brother Lindsay was Jordana’s grandfather and Jordan’s great-grandfather, the event sparked hope for change to spread far beyond Gladstone.
Remembering Jordan as “a little strong-headed little fellow” and his mother as “a lovely, caring person”, Ms Savage said her own granddaughter had just opened a social work network in Gladstone and had offered her services to help those in need.
She explained Jordana and Jordan were also Gooreng Gooreng people and her ancestors hailed from the Tanna Island in Vanuatu’s South Sea islands.
“Today has shown me that this is the start of something – that we can come together and be as one,” she said, reflecting on a recent comment from her niece that “we need to drop the spears, no more fighting”.
“Hopefully it’ll spread throughout the nation,” she said.
“Our family needs to be united.
“Our family means a lot to us and coming here today to be with each other, to comfort each other, it’s very important.
“A lot of the people have come from the south and from the north to be with us today.
“For me, this needs to happen. It’s like reconciliation coming together.”
When conducting Welcome to Country ceremonies, she talks about unity being like “the piano keyboard”.
“You can play on the black keys and you can play on the white keys but when you have the two keys playing together, you have harmony and that’s what we’ve seen here today and coming together to share in our loss.”
These sentiments were echoed by Pastor Jarrod Beezley who said, “a lot of good” had come out of such a tragedy including the unification of “black, white and brown” to “help with the heartache, share the load”.
He told those gathered, some of whom were wading in the water to escape the blistering heat, that “He is a God that cares about each and every one of us”.
‘God had other plans for you’: Heartbreaking message for young mate
One of the vigil organisers, Heleene Williams, first met Chazz when he was one of 90 people who answered a call put out on Facebook last year for the creation of a multicultural group to learn about culture, language, history and perform at events and celebrations.
If she could say one last thing to Chazz it would be “We love you and we are thinking of you and we wish you were here with us but God had other plans for you”.
She was moved by the “beautiful” turn out on Saturday.
“We thought it was going to be like a little cup of tea, gathering, smoke session … didn’t think it was going to be this … awesome support from our community, our MP who has been constantly in contact with us and keeping us in the loop with what is happening. We are very appreciative of our MP.
That MP is Glenn Butcher, who took leave from state parliament on hearing of the tragedy and has been at the heart of supporting the grieving families and believed it was “really important to give back to my community”.
“The community has obviously been through a huge tragedy here in Gladstone,” he said on Saturday.
“They were calling for how they can help and be a part of this family so today was all about that- the community gathering, getting everyone from the Gladstone community to come along and it was absolutely fantastic to see so many turn up today.
Describing the past fortnight as a “terrible terrible period” for the families, he explained Barney Point was a “healing place” for both.
“The dancing and the singing today was absolutely spectacular,” he said
“The beach area was full, the roadway was full, the pathway was full – a fantastic gathering of Gladstone people.
“It means a lot to the families.
“Gladstone people were hurting and they are still hurting.
“Not just the families – they are in deep mourning
“The Gladstone community was shocked when this happened and now they want to be part of this and today has shown they are.”
‘Feeling the pain’: MP on community reaction to arrest
The vigil follows a harrowing two weeks for the Gladstone community following the October 15 fire and comes a day after 37-year-old Contessa Leigh Marie Richardson was charged with three counts of murder.
After news of the charges Mr Butcher said there was certainly anger in the community.
“A lot of the families were not aware of how the fire (allegedly) started or what had (allegedly) happened.
“Yesterday’s news was quite a shock. They are feeling the pain of it.”
“There is some anger and some frustration in the community about ‘why?’
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